Compact disc (CD) jukeboxes that store multiple CDs and allow users to select particular audio tracks on a CD for play are common. Coin-operated CD jukeboxes are found in numerous commercial establishments. A customer enters money in a coin-operated jukebox and makes one or more selections, where each selection is one audio track on one CD. Typical CD jukeboxes create a queue of selections made, and sequentially play the selections in the queue. Some jukeboxes have a background or idle mode, which becomes active when there are no selections from the queue. In the idle mode, one or more predetermined audio tracks may be played. If desired, the jukebox may be set so that the audio tracks played when in idle mode are commercials or other types of announcements.
Existing methods of playing audio commercials during idle mode have the disadvantage of only playing commercials when there are no user selections in the play queue. Typically, this occurs at the times when fewer customers are in the business establishment, such as off-peak hours. It is desirable to have a system that provides the ability to play audio commercials or announcements at predetermined times, regardless of whether user selections are on the queue.
Programming existing CD jukeboxes to play particular audio tracks during idle mode requires that a programmer or other service personnel individually program each CD jukebox. This is time consuming and uneconomical. A method of programming a jukebox to play segments on a CD in a particular sequence that does not require a programmer to have physical access to a CD jukebox is desirable. It is also desirable to achieve the playing of selected audio announcements or commercials at predetermined times without deviating substantially from the manner in which commercially available CD jukeboxes are configured and arranged. Further, it is desirable to have multiple sequences of playback so that the tracks on each individual CD that include commercials or announcements can be played at different predetermined times during selected days of the week.